Election Day in Decatur!
Decatur Metro | November 5, 2013Time to get to the voting booths! If you don’t know where to go to vote, CLICK HERE.
There’s only one contested race this November – for the School Board District 1 Post A seat. Here are brief candidate summaries…
- Mark Arnold – a financial and banking expert and former member of the Renfroe School Leadership Team with notable endorsements from School Board member and Fmr. School Board Chair Valerie Wilson, Fmr. Mayor Elizabeth Wilson, and Gary Garrett. (Here are links to Mr. Arnold’s bio and list of supporters).
- Lewis Jones – an environmental lawyer and Chair of the Renfroe School Leadership Team, with notable endorsements from School Board Chair Marc Wisniewski, Fmr. Mayor Bill Floyd, and County Commissioner Kathie Gannon. (Here are links to Mr. Jones’ bio and list of supporters).
Go vote!
Latest from Decaturish
First Baptist poll workers said that the volume there has been steady, higher than expected. If you haven’t voted yet, hurry up because there’s candy availabe, even a few Reese’s cups. Get it before it runs out!
Holy Trinity said the same thing – they were surprised at the turnout.
I am torn about Mark Arnold. The Bicycle Obstructionist (hereafter known as BO Man) on Adair has a Mark Arnold sign in his yard. Can I support a candidate who has a supporter who exploits the law to his own personal ends? Do aspiring politicians care or note where they get their support from? Where does the slippery slope stop?
(insert sarcasm token here for those who take this seriously)
I live in District 1 and vote at First Christian. However, the only races on my ballot were three uncontested ones: Patti Garrett, Annie Caiola, and Bernadette Seals. The Arnold/Jones race was not on there.
That isn’t right at all. The District 1 ballot was Fred Boykin, Annie Caiola, and Arnold vs. Jones. Are you sure you are District 1? There’s a chunk of DHA housing north of the tracks that’s actually District 2.
Hmmm. If District 1 voters were given District 2 ballots, this election may be invalid.
Yes, according to that map, I live in District 1, though I do live near the District 2 chunk that is north of the tracks. Mark Arnold has been campaigning in my neighborhood, so I was surprised to find that race not on my ballot (it wasn’t on my husband’s ballot, either).
Someone ought to check those ballots. According to Creative Loafing, some Candler Park residents received the wrong ballots. I’m assuming that happened in DeKalb Co. precincts too.
So what happens if folks got the wrong ballots? Is the election invalidated? Will it have to be held again? Or do they only invalidate the ballots that were handed out in error? That seems to introduce a bias that could potentially be unfair to one candidate or another.
Very odd. I know the districts were revised a little in the last few years but the map on DM says that it was updated on 8/6/13. I would think that, if you are represented as District 1 on this map, you ought to have had a District 1 ballot. Could this be a DeKalb County Board of Registrations and elections error? I know that Candler Park residents are complaining that Fulton County provided some of them with the wrong district’s ballots.
Decaturmom,
The more I think about it, the more I think you and your husband ought to go back to your poll and ask for the correct ballot. Something isn’t right and it may not get fixed in time for other voters unless someone like you brings it to the attention of the poll workers.
I can’t go back up there right now, but I called the DeKalb Board of Elections. They took all my info and said they will research it today. For whatever that is worth!
@AHID…I looked at the polling places link you posted and what you said about First Christian handling voting for SD 1 and 2. Does that mean that some of the folks who live in District 2 vote at First Christian, but they are supposed to get a different ballot? I know nothing about how it works at the polls, but that seems like a recipe for confusion.
So, according to the Board of Elections, the side of the street on which I live is District 2, and the other side of the street is District 1, which is not what the map linked to this post shows. A very nice lady at the elections office is supposed to email me a screen shot of the most current map and verify that I am not in District 1.
Aha! Well, our fears of massive fraud or error were unfounded. Enjoy District 2!
Ha! There’s massive fraud fraud or error somewhere, I’m sure of it….
The lady at the Board of Elections called me back to ask me to steer her toward the City’s district map so she can investigate the conflicting information. I’m pleasantly surprised by their helpfulness, I must admit.
That is really troubling, actually. I hope others who are having this issue will speak up. If the election is close, something like this could make a big difference.
More…: I checked out the DeKalb County list of polling places, web.co.dekalb.ga.us/voter/pdf/polls.pdf, and all of the polling places have voters from just 1 district, either SD 1 or SD 2, EXCEPT First Christian Church which seems to serve both SD1 and SD 2. How does this work? Do some voters get 1 ballot and others get another? Regardless, it seems that there’s a glitch if there’s two voters, Decaturmom and her husband (presumably Decaturdad), who are SD 1 residents but got an SD 2 ballot. How many other folks got the wrong ballot? How can this be fixed?
In the words of Roseanne Roseannadanna, never mind.
Go to http://mvp.sos.state.ga.us/Login.aspx, fill in your info, and then click the link for your sample ballot. If it doesn’t match the candidates you were offered today, then you have a legitimate beef.
I live in District 1 and voted at First Christian. My ballot had Fred Boykin, Annie Caiola, and Arnold vs. Jones, as others have noted.
Keep in mind, we use electronic voting machines, and you get a card to insert into the machine that’s configured to display your ballot, based on your address. So it’s plausible that a District 2 resident would get a District 2 ballot at the same polling place where I, a District 1 resident, got a District 1 ballot.
Does anyone beside myself secretly want to be the first voter on the roll? I do and it looked good this AM when I arrived at the Church at Decatur Heights (formally known as Decatur Heights Baptist Church but that’s another story) at 6:45. There were only a few vehicles in the lot so I began to think, maybe this time! I walked down the hall and saw no one in line. I was feeling pretty good until I entered the polling room to see two guys in front of me. Sigh!
But the big story is The Vote! It was a tough decision. Two smart dudes. Very impressive supporters. Unfortunately no crazy sign waving fans that early in the morning to push me one way or the other. So I decided at the last moment. The card was pushed in and the screen went to the Big Decision. One final agonizing moment – “WHO WILL NOT CRUCIFY ME ON A CROSS OF HIGHER TAXATION????” So I finally pushed the button for…
€¥¥¥!}#”.????¥%…¥] We are sorry to interrupt this post but this is the White House interrupting. We CANNOT allow you to be influenced by a right wing extremist in such a critical election. Please ignore this post. PS- Don’t forget to encourage all your friends to visit healhcare.gov. We’ve resolved all the issues…really!
Man this was a tough post. I tried to add: “Now it’s time to walk the dogs” but the edit function was really discombobulating my mind, you know what I mean???
And of course the whole double interrupting thing. What was I thinking!!!!
In the Valarie Wilson/ Rob Pope at large contest of 2009, Pope lost the apparently district challenged Ponce de Leon precinct, ( heretofore know as First Christian) by 5 votes; the citywide election by 26 votes. It’s worth questioning…..Every vote counts! I think I’ll change my name to pot stirrer just for fun. Good luck everyone!
Decaturish is reporting that Lewis Jones won with 793 votes to 718 for Mark Arnold. Close election. Of course Annie Caiola and Bernadette Seals won too as candidates with no opposition. It’s now official, although it was obviously coming, that we have a newly composed School Board, with two brand new members, one newer member, and two longer standing members.
People have been remarking that important and tough financial issues were brought up in this campaign. I wish all the members wisdom and luck in dealing with them.